December 28, 2008

December holds four birthdays, Chanukkah, Yule/Solstice and the big giftmas.I survived and managed to gift everyone who needed one.Planting trees was big this year through www.mokugift.com.One recipient was so happy they planted 10 more as a gift to the planet.

My not-so-inner-hippy was pleased.

I was choosing between a floral arrangement (very planet unfriendly- roses from where?) and this. I decided the recipients were either savvy enough or had their own inner-hippy ready to be channeled, or simply were not wanting things to care for, store and keep up with.

For the physical gifts, such as for my young nieces, Sweetie and Kiddo, I used 6 square feet of wrapping, half of that reused.I don't have to seek out that one different roll of paper this year. I actually have too much paper at once.I see drawer/shelf lining in my future.

December 8, 2008

I've said on boards that I had my last hamburger when John Lennon was alive. I don't remember the exact date I put the cow = sentient life equation together, so in the sadness of memory today, I also thank Lennon for pushing people to look at why they do things the way they do...and offering options. It pushed me to look at what I thought was basic, eating, and make it a statement of my own beliefs.I try not to push it on others. I will answer questions, share recipes and hints.I do think that the reliance on animals for food has gotten out of hand. Who orders a 3.5 oz steak at a restaurant?

But Lennon was an icon for me. I had a brother old enough to remember the Beatles clearly, and a stepmother with the full catalog. For a young teen, his words and stances were heady stuff.It's trite, perhaps, but we can give peace a chance, because invasion sure isn't working out.I probably would not have read Mao without Lennon, although I had read Marx by then. And I'm slogging through Trotsky now. Ugh.I was intensely interested in Utopian ideals and communities, and reading the dry formulas they sprang from was eye opening.I also give his soul mate, Yoko kudos for forcing her concept of art on the mass public.She might sound somewhat like a tortured goat, but you have to ask WHY people would express themselves this way.

Ono chose a companion for Lennon while they were separated in the 1970s. May Pang is now peddling a book about John's "Lost Weekend" and her relationship with him.I can't even begin to understand how one woman could "choose" the woman her husband was to have an affair with..and I can't comprehend why a man would go along with it.But I can wonder how on earth that other woman can trade on a dead man so many years later.

What I'd like to see is more musicians and artists with a holy anger like Lennon's making a mark. So, no choice to balance but some homework: Who has that sacred rage that you love? Franti? RATM? Dead Prez?Who is speaking truth to power in an obseved way that makes even the pop world take note?